To think excess skin removal should be available on the NHS?

[TheGoodEnoughWife]

I know being fat is seen as being self inflicted although I don't agree that it is and that people over eating should be taken as seriously as people under eating. But that isn't necessarily my point here..,

I am very overweight (about 6st overweight but am tall) and one of the things in the back of my mind is that if I lose weight my saggy skin will be awful. The reality is my 'strain' on the NHS being overweight has the potential to be great - surely encouragement to lose weight would cost the NHS less in the long run?
It would be helpful maybe to me and others who need to lose a lot of weight to know that treatment for excess skin would be available to them?

Now I may get flamed about self inflicted and so on but if I drive a car badly and crash I would be treated on the NHS, if I drink like a fish and cause myself illness I would be treated on the NHS, if I go about extreme sports and hurt myself I also would get treated on the NHS.
(I don't do any of those things!)

Any one see where I am coming from?

20 odd years ago I was offered a tummy tuck on the NHS, due to my excess skin caused by a twin pregnancy (16lbs +) I am not very big and looked like I was still pregnant for years despite exercise etc.
I could not take up the offer as I had four small children and a self employed DH and no family help available, once the children were older and independent and I enquired about it again I was told funds could not be made available for what was essentially a cosmetic procedure.

For years I felt far too embarrassed to ever go swimming as I looked so peculiar (like a kangaroo with a pouch) but as I have gotten a lot older and put on a bit more weight it is less noticeable, and I don't care quite as much, but saying that if I did have the available funds I would still have it done.

My breasts droop after weight loss and like i said i do have a belly overhang after weight loss.

I have had sexual partners that wernt bothered though.

Having a body like this makes it easier to filter out shallow fuckers from the nicer men.

Op to be blunt not having a heart attack because you are obese should be the incentive to lose weight that sounds blunt but its the reality n i was big before

Worth me reposting it.

HelenaDove Mon 29-Aug-16 23:24:49
Sorry its cliffmas but its not quite that simple. I lost 10 stone with slimming world (7 stone of it in 7 months) and i got gallstones. It was caused by losing weight too fast Two doctors and a surgeon told me this. I could NOT control the speed at which it came off.

I had ten months of being taken back and forth to casualty in EXCRUTIATING pain. Doctors coming out to give me morphine injections ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,prescribing me morphine pills. When i got a letter telling me i would have to wait another year for a gall bladder removal i actually considered suicide. After all the effort id made they were happy to leave me in that amount of pain.

My parents paid for a private consultation. It was with a surgeon who also worked for the NHS. He was pleased with my weight loss and appalled at how id been treated . But the cost of the gallstone op privately + possible extra aftercare were i to get an infection would cost too much,
I kept having attacks Finally an appointment came through to see an NHS consultant. It happened to be the same one i had a private consultation with. he promised i would be on an operating table in six weeks.

Five weeks later he removed my gall bladder.
This all happened in 2002/2003.
I owe him a lot If it wasnt for him i would have been waiting for another year. I could not eat SOLID food Thats how bad it was

IMO it is inhumane to leave someone in so much pain.

I cant help but remember them bending over backwards to help George Best an alchoholic who refused to help himself. I HELPED MYSELF. And at the time it felt like they were sticking two fingers up at me.

If it wasnt for that surgeon i dont think i would be alive because i couldnt have lived in that amount of excrutiating pain.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2365464/Man-41-died-gallstones-begging-999-operator-GP-ambulance-told-bath.html

Hmmm, loose skin from weight loss...no, probably not, unless it's causing further health problems.

I have an overhang over my c-section scar, and I hate it, but such is life.

HOWEVER, I would love to have my diastasis recti stitched back together. That actually does cause me issues and limits what I can do for exercise. I've tried exercises but they haven't worked.

Excess skin will still look better than the excess fat, so I don't see the lack of NHS excess skin removal as a good reason to not loose the weight.

Helena I think you missed the point I was making, if you think that you are putting yourself at high risk by being overweight then you have responsibility to try and reduce the risk yourself, don't want until it's too late thinking that the NHS will sort it out for you, as when the time comes you have no idea what state the NHS will be in and you may be left waiting months for the medical attention that you need.
I think your story backs up what I am saying, no of course I do not think that you should be left in agony for months, not at all. But this clearly shows that the NHS is already struggling to provide care to those in need and can not afford to offer surgery for cosmetic reasons.

I do appreciate that some things can cause depression and anxiety (trust me I understand this) but the situation the op is in is completed different. As a previous poster mentioned earlier it really is as though she is trying to bribe the NHS.

Regarding the sausage debate, and bulking up quality meats with this or that, if you bulk with fresh ingredients they a) have a short shelf life, b) are more expensive, c) you have to transport them home and D) have the knowledge and equipment to turn them into healthy food. If you are buying tinned food, you still have to have time and money to go and get it and transport it, as well as the skills to prepare it.
This is something you won't comprehend if you are not reliant on public transport on a very tight schedule and very limited budget.
People saying it is an excuse very obviously have not been in that position.

This is an aside from the addictiveness of sugar and how that manifests.
I posted a study that said sugar is addictive, someone posted later to refute that statement, with a study that said rather it ought to be classed as a behavioural than substance addiction, akin to gambling.

I do not believe George Best wanted to drink himself to death.
I do not believe anyone wants to eat themselves to death.

People who do believe this have very different reactions to these over eaters and are clearly people in control.

OP, you mentioned stress eating, the stress hormone cortisol is linked to overweight/obesity, suggesting there are also stress/hormonal factors to consider.

cliffmas im very glad i lost the weight. My gall bladder was removed in 2003 so it was a long time ago. I was suffering for ten months.

Back in 2002 there were not many studies done about the connection between fast weight loss + gallstones........now there are loads. While having attacks before i was given morphine regularly the pain made me so desperate i was taking any pill in sight. I was prescribed tramadol which did nothing to touch the pain OUT OF SHEER DESPERATION i was taking nurofen paracetamol aspirin and the tramadol like fucking smarties.

Very close together I was so out of it with the pain i didnt keep track.

This could have easily caused me permanant damage because i was so desperate for the pain to go. I also lost my job that i had then because of it.

I also considered suicide and even thought about posting a suicide note to a national newspaper explaining why.

I was relieved when they finally removed my gall bladder. This is why i now give so many warnings about it.

i also couldnt eat SOLID food. For the last couple of months i was living on water biscuits and soup.

cliffmas i lost the weight through willpower and patience I went to Slimming World.

Ironically my then boss made me redundant after the operation due to me having to take too much time off while on the waiting list.

Thank you Helena. Strangely losing weight slowly seems harder than a quick fix but can see from posts that for my skin and to reduce gallstone risk slow is the way to go!

I'm perfectly well aware of the problems that access to fresh food and transport links cause. Not being in that position doesn't mean that I don't understand it perfectly. What I also said was - have a look at the contents of the various shopping trolleys in Asda and the size of the people pushing them. Same access to the same food - and having worked on the checkouts there for a while, I confirm that mountains of crap is definitely not cheaper.

The evidence I'm reading does not support a link between cortisol and obesity. Here's one www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3602916/

GoodEnough I did regain 4 stone when DH got ill. But ive lost that 4 stone over the last 3 years.

The second time was a lot slower but less weight to lose.

A PP posted that her excess skin weighs 4 stone but the medics want her to get down to a certain weight. How is she suppossed to do that when the skin itself weighs 4 stone.

Thanks Helena.. that was me.

While the NHS is refusing funding, I'm costing a helluva lot more because I can't work. I'm in receipt of ESA and DLA, plus HB and CTB. In my former life I supported myself on a decent salary.

My skin splits and becomes infected - often -
I have very expensive medicines, creams and ointments to try and minimise the skin issues
I also have Lymphodema which apparently would most likely be fixed along with the skin removal.
Depression, psychological issues etc.. all treated with yet more medication and would probably improve post surgery.

So £28k as a one off payment would probably be recouped in savings for the treatment I currently receive within a year or so.

I'd be able to get back to work and start contributing to the economy again.. another saving.

Sometimes you need to look at the bigger picture.

I have looked into self funding but there's just no way I could raise that amount of money. I could possibly get half of it but the NHS aren't set up to allow a cost splitting scheme.

I was healthier when I was fat.

Oh my goodness, Sally, it's awful that they're leaving you to live like this. Is there not an appeals route you could go down? It's so unfair that you've worked so hard and now you're left with health complications that they could resolve but won't.

A private hospital near me does interest free loans to cover the cost of treatment, not sure if that's an option or if it's widely available at other private hospitals.

I didn't know that about the interest free thing. Both surgeons I saw were under the NHS but I know one of them has a private practice. The one I really liked I don't know if he did but if I had the funds he's who I'd go to.

Definitely something I'll look into though. My GP is fabulous, so apologetic when I get turned down and he's done two appeals for me but nada, perhaps he can recommend someone who does the loans.

That is awful Sally. And a real example of not looking at the bigger picture. To say no to the excess skin removal when the NHS are paying for other things for you is silly.

At risk of sounding heartless, I do think some people need to accept responsibility for the way they got in the first place. I'm overweight. I was obese. I am not at a healthy weight yet but I'm getting there. I am no stranger to the harsh reality of trying to fix my eating problems and feeling like I'm swimming upstream. However, my heart is a bit hardened to people's stories of how hard it is to live with severe excess skin when I compare it to other stories. My friend's jaw joint has literally collapsed due to arthritis. She can only open her mouth half a centimetre. She can't chew or ear solid food or brush her teeth with a normal toothbrush. She dribbles. She can't speak properly. She is on high doses of morphine for the pain. She is waiting to hear if the NHS will find a replacement of the joint. It should be black and white but they have to apply. It will change her life to have this done. They might say no. It's an expensive surgery.

When I know that people like my friend are not receiving adequate treatment, I'm afraid my stance on other procedures is much firmer. I am saggy, my skin gets sore. I am immuncompromised so it is risky for me. I piled on the pounds due to bulimia and binge eating. I was ill, it wasn't my fault but I don't expect the NHS to bail me out on this one. It has to be prioritised. There are limited funds.

Sally i also have lipodema. My legs have a lumpy appearance So did my grans Its hereditary As an elderly woman my gran used to shuffle rather than walk.

I have a cousin who is a full time carer for BOTH his elderly parents. His father had a stroke which caused brain damage He dosnt recognise himself let alone anybody else. His mother is ill too........can hardly walk and her conditions were exacerbated by caring for her husband. She also hasnt left the house in 2 years. My uncle had that stroke ten years ago so hasnt left the house for a decade.

My cousin is very overweight Hes had to put his own health aside to care for his elderly parents as their only child. They do have carers come in but obviously the toileting and other needs dont always fit with the timetable.

A while ago they both had to go into hospital at the same time. But they were put in seperate wards far away from each other in the same hospital so my cousin had to spilt the visiting time in two some of which he spent feeding his father. FOR SEVEN MONTHS!

If the NHS is so comcerned about weight where is the help for him!

Totally agree. I know it is cosmetic surgery, but the photos I have seen of people with excessive loose skin are shocking. It should be for the extreme cases, but should be available

Sally someone telling you to lose weight when its not weight..........but loose skin is emotionally abusive IMO.

Ive had people actually say to me that its possible to excersise off loose skin.

It was also frustrating being weighed at SW the first time around knowing i actually weighed ten pounds less than what the scales were showing.